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Scranton City Council solicitor Boyd Hughes defended a 67 percent pay raise for him that council has introduced.

On Thursday, council members Frank Joyce, Jack Loscombe and Pat Rogan voted to introduce a fund transfer that would give an additional $30,000 in salary to Mr. Hughes, who currently earns $45,000 a year in the part-time post.

Councilman Bob McGoff voted against the raise, while council President Janet Evans was absent.

The pay raise is expected to come up for another vote at council's meeting Thursday.

Mr. Hughes said the council majority initially wanted to raise his salary to $75,000 because of an anticipated increase in duties stemming from the city's fiscal crisis. He instead suggested allowing him to bill as necessary for extra duties that could end up less than $30,000.

"I said keep my salary the same, and if I do extra work, I'll bill the city," Mr. Hughes said.

So the council kept his salary at $45,000, but included in the budget $100,000 that could be drawn down as necessary for extra work. Then, earlier this year, Mr. Hughes submitted a $4,848 bill for his work in January on the city's securing of an $11.5 million tax-anticipation note.

"We started getting whacked with all this other stuff, the TAN, and the banks demanded I was there," Mr. Hughes said. "No other (council) solicitor had to do any of this work."

But city Controller Roseann Novembrino in April rejected payment of that bill, because the solicitor's salary is set by ordinance, and she questioned why the work was not part of Mr. Hughes' regular duties and salary. However, the fund transfer may be allowable, she said Friday.

Mayor Chris Doherty declined to comment on the pay raise.

Council majority members have contended Mr. Hughes has gone beyond his regular duties. The rejected bill "would have been much easier to bite. Obviously, now we have to go this route" (a pay raise), Mr. Loscombe said during Thursday's meeting.

"Why is it obvious?" asked Mr. McGoff.

"Because it (the $4,848 bill) was rejected," Mr. Loscombe said. "He (Mr. Hughes) has done a lot of extra work. He's done a lot of legislation that the city (solicitor) should have done just so we could move it along. Now it's slowing down because he can't touch it. If you want to get this city moving forward, we have to work together."

A salary of $75,000 would place Mr. Hughes among the highest-paid city employees. Mr. McGoff noted the raise is being introduced at a time when employee salary cuts of "10 percent across the board" have been discussed.

"You never heard me say that," Mr. Loscombe said of pay cuts. "If he (Mr. Hughes) had a $200,000 payment and it was increased by 70 percent, it would be different. We're talking a measly $40,000" salary.

Mr. Loscombe also contended the pay raise actually is not an increase because it would come out of the extra $100,000 that council has already budgeted.

"This (pay raise) is coming out of the fund we had set aside, so it's not increasing anything," Mr. Loscombe said. "It's already budgeted in the council budget. That legal fund was to give us the ability to fight on issues we need to fight on. And I'm not going to give up, because we're making a difference."

Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com

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